


Her Last Line of Defense

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Clint Is a Good Bro, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Paralysis, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, Tony Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5255003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony meets Natasha's daughter, Laura, for the first time. But with only two Avengers and a toddler at the tower, trouble hits them at the worst time possible. When Laura is in danger and there's no stopping it, Tony uses his own body as her last line of defense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Last Line of Defense

Tony's jaw dropped as Natasha walked into the common room with a backpack and an infant in her arms. "Where are the others?" Natasha asked, her Russian accent rolling off her tongue. 

"Ummm... Steve's on a mission, Brucie's at SHIELD headquarters, and Thor's off-world." Tony answered, eyes still fixated on the baby in Natasha's arms. "So, it's Clint and yours?" 

"My baby is not a 'it', Stark. And yeah, she's Clint and mine's." She plopped the bag on to the table and adjusted the baby in her arms. "Clint had to drop by SHIELD. You wanna hold her?"

Tony's eye widened even more in shock. "You would let me hold her?" he asked, visibly swallowing.

Natasha gave a soft smile. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" She gently placed her daughter into Tony's lost arms. She guided Tony, "Make sure her head and neck are supported. Yeah, that's it."

"Her name is Laura." Tony couldn't help but smile at the tiny child in his arm. He ran his coarse thumb against her cheek. His fingers tangled in her tiny hairs. His smile grew as the baby gave a toothless smile and make an incomprehensible sound. "She's beautiful. A beautiful name too." Tony said softly, with raw emotion.

Placing Laura back in her mother's embrace, he went for a cup of coffee. "She really looks like you, red hair, killer eyes and everything. But god help me if she grows up to have Barton's personality."

Natasha was astounded by Tony's sudden change of character, from being calm to his usual ramblings. It wasn't the first time she had seen this happen. She had seen Tony turn calm and sombre back when she was spying on him as Natalie Rushman. He had asked her what she would do if it was her last birthday back when he was going through palladium poisoning. He had let her guard down, and he just did again upon meeting her daughter for the first time. Natasha smiled to herself, but rolled her eyes at Tony's comment. "That's my husband and daughter you're talking about." She said jokingly.

Tony whirled around. "Wait, so you and Clint are actually married? Legally? How have you been able to take care of her and keep her a secret from us? Were you killing people with a baby growing inside of you?"

Natasha huffed. "Everything became possible after a ton of arrangements with Fury. Clint and I are not to take long missions and at the same time. Also, I was pregnant before the Avengers Initiative. Clearly I wasn't fighting the battle of New York with a huge stomach. And yes, Clint and I are legally married. Is that hard to believe?"

"Very." Tony replied, taking a sip of his coffee. 

The Avengers alarm suddenly rang through the tower. Jarvis spoke, 'Sir, it seems as there is an attack on tower and I am being infiltrated. There are armed strangers coming in through the entrance and-" The AI's voice cackled off abruptly, unable to finish its sentence.

"Damn it." Tony swore, starting to run towards his workshop. He would have to put on the suit manually. He was stopped by Natasha calling his name. He whipped around. "Stark! I need you to take care of Laura."

"What?"

"There's no time for you to put on the suit. I've got my weapons. I'll stop the attackers. Just take care of her." Natasha spoke quickly. She could hear shouts and crashes coming from the floors below.

"Nat, no!"

"Stark, I can do this. You know I can." Natasha tried to convince Tony. Time was running out. She estimated two minutes before the attackers reached them.

"I've never doubted your abilities, but we don't know who we're up against. You might need help." 

"Tony, please." Natasha pleaded, staring into Tony's eyes. "If something were to happen to her, I..I couldn't live with myself. Please."

Tony nearly broke at Natasha's pleas. He looked into Natasha's eyes before biting his lip in nervousness. "O...okay." He took the baby in his arms. "Be careful, Nat."

Natasha gave a sad smile, before breaking out her various weapons. "Thank you, Tony." Then, she ran out the room.

Tony was lost. He clutched Laura close to his body, her head resting in the crook of his neck. The thought that someone trusted him so much that they would put the life of someone they loved in his hands made him want to break down. But he breathed heavily to calm himself down, and focused on being alert on his surroundings. He knew Natasha would make it out of this alive, now he just had to make sure her baby did.

It was then he noticed the people scaling the length of his tower. They smashed the windows of the common floor and closed in on Tony. Oh great, Tony thought, now it's ten masked men against a useless man with a baby.

Tony knew he wasn't going to win against ten armed men with an assortment of weaponry. He didn't have his suit, and Jarvis was down. God, he was useless without his technology. Tony pushed his self-esteem issues out and set his mind on his only goal, to keep Laura alive. For Natasha and Clint.

Tony was trapped. The attackers were surrounding him in a circle. He had nowhere to go. He hugged Laura tighter. He could hear the baby's breathing change and she started to squirm. "It's okay, Laura. It's okay. It's okay." He whispered into her ears. He wondered if she was convinced, because he wasn't.

One of the men in front of him rushed forwards and raised a hammer above his head. Calculations ran through Tony's mind. Judging by the angle the hammer was being raised, it would hit him, but it would hit Laura too. With no escape route, Tony executed his last defense move. He held the baby firmly, making sure to support her head and neck just like Natasha said, and turned his entire body away from the attacker. His body cocooned around Laura, and he closed his eyes. Don't hurt the child. Don't hurt the child. The hammer hit hard on the nape of his neck and Tony screamed. He felt excruciating pain explode through his body, and then nothing, and then blackness.

\- - -

There was an annoying beeping sound that seemed to go on forever. Despite his blurry vision, he could make out the white walls of a hospital room and a familiar figure standing by the door. Tony groaned and tried to shift his body. He failed miserably, only succeeding in turning his head to the side. The man in his room stuck his head out the door and Tony could hear a faint "Nat, he's awake." 

"Cl-int." Tony choked out, resulting in a fit of coughs.

"Hey man, just relax." Clint said, stepping to Tony's side. He pulled Tony's torso forwards, slid more pillows behind him, and gently propped him up. He brought a cup of water and a straw up to Tony's cracked lips and let the man take a few sips.

Tony relished at the water soothing his dry throat. His head lolled against the pillows and he faintly registered Natasha entering the room with Laura in her arms. Clint turned his head to look at his wife for a second, before turning his attention back to Tony. The two assassins always seemed to communicate telepathically. 

Natasha sat down by Tony's side and placed a hand on his cheek. "Are you okay, Antoshka?"

"Yeah", Tony said softly, "I'm glad Laura's okay too. Hey, I did a pretty good job taking care of her, huh?"

Natasha's façade broke a little and she gave a sad smile. It was hard to believe the man was still making jokes while he was seriously hurt. "You got hurt, Tony."

"I'm fine. I passed out though. What happened after?"

"I arrived at the common floor right after you passed out. I managed to hurt all of them before SHIELD arrived and arrested them." Natasha recounted the events. She adjusted Laura on her lap, who had begun to play with the bed sheets. 

Tony smiled. "You managed to hold your front against ten men? Of course you did. You must be real proud of your wife, Barton."

Clint gave a small smile. "I am."

"Wow Birdie, didn't know you could be so romantic." Tony laughed. "Wow, I must be really drugged on morphine right now, 'cause I don't feel any pain."

Natasha's gaze averted to the floor and Tony felt the aura in the room change. "What's going on?"

Natasha looked back at Tony, and sadness seeped through her eyes. "Antoshka, I am so sorry." Her voice quivered. It was getting harder and harder to keep a strong face. The same thought kept ranging though her head, it's your fault, it's your fault. She looked down and tried to steady her breathing.

Tony's wide eyes shifted to Clint. "What aren't you guys telling me?"

Clint took a deep breath. There was no way to say reveal the information gently. What he would say next might scar the engineer forever. "Tony, your nervous system was hit when you were attacked. You're paralysed from neck-down."

Tony's breath caught in his throat. His eyes unfocused and he tried his best to process the information, that he was paralysed, and that he might never be the same again. What would happen next? Would he not be an Avenger any more? The thought of not being able to put on the suit and save the world made him want to puke.

"But it's not permanent. You can return to your original state, with physical therapy." 

Tony nodded his head and swallowed. "It's temporary?" He muttered. 

"Tony, I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. It's my fault. I should have-"

"It's fine." Tony cut Natasha off. "Don't say that. This isn't on you. This is the bad guy's fault. You came back for Laura and I, and prevented us from further harm. You saved us."

Natasha blinked rapidly to hold back the tears. "Tony-"

"Can I hold her?"

Natasha was interrupted by Tony once more. She couldn't understand why Tony was forgiving her so easily.The Avenger might never be able to use his body fully again, and that was on her. But she shut up, and placed Laura on Tony's lap. The child smiled at the familiarity of Tony and placed her tiny hands onto Tony's chest and tapped her small fingers on his arc reactor. 

Natasha seemed to understand the longing in Tony's eyes. She took one of his hands, and brought it up to her daughter. She helped Tony's fingers run across Laura's cheek.

The dam in Tony's eyes broke and he broke down. Silent tears ran down his face and he gasped and gasped. Clint took his daughter up in his arms, and asked worriedly, "Tony, man, what's wrong? What hurts?"

Tony swallowed and heaved for breath. "I..I can't even feel her." He choked out in sobs.

Natasha broke. Her metaphorical dam seemed to break as well. She had done this to her team mate.

"Tony, look at me." Clint said loudly. "This can be fixed. You can regain your sense of touch. This isn't permanent. You will recover. I mean, I lost one of my senses too and I'm okay. You'll be okay too." 

Tony sniffed loudly and blinked back coming tears. "Yeah, yeah, this isn't permanent. You're doing great. What am I crying about?" He allowed Clint to wipe his tears with a tissue. "Damn it, Nat, sorry for making you cry."

Natasha shook her head, wiping the wetness off her face with the back of her hand. "Tony, I'll be with you for every physical therapy session. I'll help you in every way I can. Tony, you saved my daughter, and I can never thank you enough for that."

Tony smiled gratefully. "It's what I do. Although I would prefer if someone else helped me go to the bathroom. I'm afraid you might be disappointed with Clint's dick after seeing mine."

Natasha let out a laugh, despite her still teary eyes. Tony had returned to his usual joking manner and it was a good sign. It was the first step to recovery, acceptance of the injury. Tony joined in on the laughter when they noticed Clint's offended facial expression.

"You wanna compare dick sizes, Stark?" Clint threatened jokingly, before succumbing to the laughter himself. He placed Laura back onto Tony's lap before crossing over to the other side of the bed and wrapping his arms around his wife. "I'd be happy to watch you pee, Stark. Thank you for saving Laura...and Nat." Clint crossed to the other side of the bed and wrapped his arms around his wife. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head and smoothed out her hair. 

Happiness engulfed Tony as Laura ran her soft fingers on his cheek and stubble. Perhaps he had developed a paternal affection to Laura. Despite paralysis and the setback it would cause, Tony felt whole. He was surrounded by people he would gladly call his family. And every time Laura smiled at him, Tony decided that it was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> i am not a medical expert, and if you are, i apologize for the perhaps slightly unrealistic happenings. comments greatly appreciated. what about a short continuation? :)


End file.
